But among the twelve women in Jinling, Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai tied for the first place among the twelve women in Jinling. In this way, no one can decide whose background is better, but Jia Yucun has his own judgment, and his thoughts are hidden in the couplets he wrote.
Jia Yucun's couplets are like this. It says: jade asks for a good price in the rafters, and firewood stays in the box to fly. This sentence seems nothing strange, but after reading it, we will find that Jia Yucun implicitly implies that Lin Daiyu's status is higher than Xue Baochai's.
The jade in this sentence naturally refers to Lin Daiyu, because there is no second girl with the word jade in her name in Jiafu. In ancient times, it refers to very expensive wooden boxes, which are generally used to hold precious jewels and jade articles. In A Dream of Red Mansions, Cao Xueqin wrote that Lin Daiyu's father was an imperial envoy from the south of the Yangtze River, and the Lins were also Zhong Ding's home. It can be seen from here that the Lins were also noble at that time, echoing the couplets from afar.
In ancient times, the hairpin in the second couplet was only a woman's jewelry, not as valuable as jade. In addition, in ancient times, the urn was not a very valuable thing, it refers to the jewelry box commonly used by girls. It can be seen from this that firewood is inferior to jade in value and environment, which means that Lin Daiyu is more noble than Xue Baochai.
Why does Jia Yucun have this view? Because Lin Daiyu is delicate and touching, making people love her. However, Xue Baochai is tactful and doesn't look like a girl, so she speaks highly of Lin Daiyu.
To sum up, jade symbolizes the dignity of identity; Wood symbolizes a rich life. Chai is slightly inferior to Yu. Baochai is not as noble as Daiyu. The rafters are one grade higher than the urn, and Lin Daiyu's family is one grade higher than Xue Baochai's. Lin Daiyu is taller than Xue Baochai.